Being the Bigger Sharptooth
by Flipper Boid Skua
Summary: There's always someone better than you. A new sharptooth attacks and takes Red Claw's territory. His companions killed and himself nearly dead, Thud wants revenge, but first he must recover with a little help from a Great Valley friend. Pleaz R&R!


Disclaimer: I don't own The Land Before Time or any of its numerous, never-ending characters.

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_Prologue_

Thud yawned with a stretch and shook his head, opening his eyes a little. Early morning has arrived, the Bright Circle has risen long enough to warm the earth outside their cave. It was a relief. The Cold Time has ended not too long ago and the night was still chilly. So chilly, his older brother Screech has curled tight against him for warmth. He looked at his still-sleeping sibling, his only living family since Red Claw came along. Speaking of Red Claw, he looked about for the larger sharptooth. He wasn't in the cave, probably outside hunting without them. The green Fast Biter's sniffer told him that he had left not too long ago. Understandably accepting of that, he relaxed and laid his head over his brother's neck.

It's very rare that they get a chance to sleep in like this. Normally, they have to submit themselves to Red Claw's schedule and unfortunately, Red Claw, though he sleeps like a rock, wakes up very early. That's one of the disadvantages about their inter-species alliance. But he didn't feel like lingering on the subject; it was only making him feel irritated when he should be enjoying this free time. He sniffed a bit to calm himself, and to his luck, the smells were peaceful: the ever warming earth, the gentle breeze, and just the general smells that were enough to get him in a contentedly lazy mood.

Closing his eyes, he decided it wouldn't hurt to get some extra sleep...

Red Claw returned when the Bright Circle was higher in the sky only to see those two bafoons still sleeping. He growled to himself, as he wasn't in a particularly good mood. His hunt did not go too well and it was very annoying to this short-fused sharptooth. Figuring that he's given them enough time to rest, he leaned down and nudged them hard with his snout. Screech immediately stood up and bounded off a few steps towards the entrance before shaking himself out. Thud took a bit longer to rouse, blessed with a good sleep-story. Red Claw hissed in irritation and nudged even harder. "Wake up, you idiot!"

With that, Thud growled softly and stood, not bothering to open his eyes as he sleepily made his way to his brother. When a Big Biter (my assumed name for Tyrannosaurus) twice your size tells you to do something, you better do it if you wanted to live. The brothers learned that early-on. Still, it was hard for them not to grumble their complaints under their breath.

"Shut up, you imbeciles. Your lucky I didn't bite you two awake." Red Claw growled at them angrily when he heard the incomprehensible murmurs. Screech and Thud immediately closed their mouths tight, not wanting to test their superior just as their day was starting. That could be the last thing they ever do.

They moved out of the way as Red Claw stepped outside towards the river. Feeling thirsty themselves, the Fast Biters followed him before they paused. They had spotted other sharpteeth playing in the river and they recognized the family. They've chased them off before and now they're back again, as if they didn't take the previous threats seriously. Well, they'll regret that decision. Growling, Screech and Thud ran ahead to scare them off once more, truly intent to get the message across: this part of the river was theirs and theirs alone.

"Get out!" Screech hissed with teeth bared as they bounded towards the group of smaller predators. The family looked up from their frolicking and backed away in fright. They were hoping that they won't be found here again, as they learned that they can usually sneak by whenever the deadly trio were hunting. They had seen Red Claw on the hunt earlier and thought they had the perfect opportunity to play in the water. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"I'm pretty sure we told you before to make yourselves scarce." Thud continued, jumping into the water with a large splash. The family backed up faster, trying to stay out of range from the other predators' teeth and claws. Red Claw then arrived at the river bank at a deceivingly leisure pace and let out a menacing roar to further intimidate the intruders. It wasn't needed as the family scrambled towards the opposite bank. However, one of the young ones tripped and Screech lunged forward to grab it, clamping his jaws across its back. The hatchling screamed.

"No! Let her go! Please!" the lone parent yelled in desperation, barely keeping herself from rushing over to her daughter's aid as she knew that would be a fatal mistake. "I promise, we won't come back!"

Red Claw only growled before giving a contemptuous smirk. "We'll make sure of that." He nodded to Screech, who violently shook the youngster in his jaws until it showed no further signs of life. Its parent cried out in agony as Thud moved over to his sibling and also sank his teeth in the body. The anguished mother was about to give in to her maternal instincts and 'rescue' her child when Red Claw charged forward with jaws wide and an angry demand. "Now beat it!"

Seeing no other option, the mother and her remaining child turned and high-tailed it out of there as fast as they could, now having it firmly implanted in their minds never to return. Red Claw slowed his charge to a stop and glared at the retreating figures before returning to the river and leaning over to drink as his smaller companions growled softly at each other.

Screech and Thud decided that now was the perfect time to play. The Fast Biters began pulling at the body, trying to yank it away from each other. The two brothers seemed to be evenly-matched in this game of Tug-A-War and Screech grinned, lifted a clawed hand, and gently pushed at Thud's sniffer. This got the green sharptooth to willingly let go and the eldest of the siblings took off, splashing noisily. Thud splashed after him, hissing like they were hatchlings again.

Red Claw ignored their antics, plenty used to it. So long as they were serious when needed, he didn't care how goofy they acted on their free time. He himself wasn't interested in their games nor was he interested in the body as breakfast because it was too small for him to bother with. But when he was splashed in the face, that's when he finally acknowledged the game by ceasing his drink and glaring at his cronies with a warning growl. The smaller carnivores put everything on hold when they heard their leader's annoyance and hurriedly moved to shore where splashing won't be an issue. Arriving onto dry land, the two looked at Red Claw to see if this was acceptable. Said sharptooth snorted irritably, but returned to his drinking.

Taking this as approval, Thud chuckled and snatched the toy from his brother, taking off quickly with his sibling right at his tail. After a few moments of running in zigzagging circles, Screech took this game to the next level and tackled Thud to the ground, making him drop the body. For another moment, they scuffled along the ground, snarling, kicking, and biting at each other, but at the same time taking care not to actually hurt each other. They paused, both evaluating their opponent, before ending the game altogether. Screech picked up the body as Thud wandered over for his share. The blue Fast Biter tensed his jaws and bit the hatchling in half. His green counterpart took his portion and walked a little ways off to eat.

Red Claw sated his thirst and proceeded to scan over the surrounding territory. Screech and Thud finished their mid-morning snack and took their turn to drink. While they did so, they listened to their boss grumble to himself as he sniffed for signs of prey. The winds were still today and the larger predator seemed frustrated about that. "Lousy sky. Wish I could kill it for not cooperating." he muttered, glaring at the Bright Circle and the sky puffies. The Fast Biters didn't respond, not wanting his temper to target them. Red Claw growled before looking towards the Great Wall, at which point Thud stopped lapping and looked up a bit.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and those Leaf Eater hatchlings will wander out of their precious valley." he said, echoing Red Claw's thoughts. The larger carnivore nodded with teeth bared.

"Hope so. Then I'll show that puny sharptooth what happens when he hangs around with food." he hissed vengefully. Thud glanced in the direction of the Great Valley before nonchalantly resuming his drink. Unlike Red Claw, Thud wasn't as hateful to Chomper. He actually respected the youngster for saving his life. As for Chomper hanging around with those Leaf Eaters, it was so disgraceful, it was hilarious to the green Fast Biter. He remembered cracking up when Chomper told him that the tiny Swimmer was his friend. Thud hadn't laughed that hard since he himself was a hatchling.

A sharptooth being friends with a Leaf Eater... As if that's possible! And even if it was, it couldn't possibly last long. Yeah, he gave that little biter a year or two to grow up and see that friendly life amongst Leaf Eaters isn't so ideal after all. That is, a year or two if he lived long enough... Shaking his head, he snapped out of his thoughts quickly and leaned down to resume drinking, but something was wrong here. Ripples travelled from the banks and his reflection flickered on contact. Pausing, he realized the ripples came from vibrations and the vibrations came from foot steps. Foot steps that coming louder and closer. He looked to Screech, who was looking up to the largest of the trio.

Red Claw growled and snarled, the still winds keeping him from sniffing out the intruder. Standing as tall as he could, he spotted movement from a clump of trees and out stepped another large sharptooth. This, he won't tolerate and he gave a threatening roar as he moved to challenge the invader. Thud and Screech rushed after him, although they knew that their help won't be accepted as their boss 'insist' rather rudely to fight territorial battles with large sharpteeth himself. Still, no harm coming to watch and provide back up on the slim chance it's needed.

The intruder gave a responding roar and the two Fast Biters finally saw what they were up against. A very large green Plated Sharptooth (Giganotosaurus) with exceptionally large and sharpened teeth and claws, even for a sharptooth. This creature, the size of Red Claw himself, was impressive to say the least, but being intimidated was not one of Red Claw's personality quirks and he glared at the other predator, his voice a very low and dangerous rumble.

"Get lost, scum. This is our territory." he warned, tail swishing a large dust cloud behind him. On either side of him, Screech and Thud voiced their own threats in loud hisses and snarls, hoping numbers alone will discourage the stranger. Afterall, they had him outnumbered and although either one of the Fast Biters were only half the size, there was two of them. Along with Red Claw, that would be the equivalent of fighting two Big Biters. Odds like that is usually enough to scare off any invader, but this one was not put off in the slightest. If anything, he seemed to like the prospect of such a challenge as he was smirking.

"Well, I'm looking for territory myself." He glanced about almost mockingly. "And this seems like a good place to call home."

Red Claw laughed scornfully. "You honestly believe you can take what's ours? I don't think so." He narrowed his eyes, looking over his opponent. "Don't you know who I am?"

The Plated Sharptooth stepped closer, looking Red Claw and his two Fast Biters over before giving a shake of his head. "Afraid I don't. But if you were smart, you'd turn around and leave, cause this is my territory now!" At this, Red Claw didn't bother with threats anymore and charged, jaws ready to tear. Unfortunately, his opponent anticipated this and slammed his head under Red Claw's hard enough to stop the attack and make the scarred sharptooth step back a bit. However, it would take more than that and Red Claw snapped for the throat of the invader, who immediately jerked back, teeth closing a mere breath from his skin. Snarling, he rose his claws and slashed Red Claw across the face.

Screech and Thud watched in amazement; this new sharptooth could move and fast! But they had confidence in their boss' power. It was the power that earned them the title of the meanest and deadliest sharpteeth around. It wasn't possible that this newcomer could be anything of a match. Those were just lucky shots...

After shaking his head a bit to rid the stinging pain of the slashes, Red Claw glared all the harder at the newcomer before starting to circle, changing tactics. Attempting to get the other sharptooth's guard down, he made mock lunges, jaws snapping the air. The Plated Sharptooth kept head-to-head with Red Claw, snapping back with each new lunge, but refusing to lose ground. Judging accurately on the best time for a real attack, Red Claw managed to clamped his jaws into his rival's neck. Smirking at this advantageous hold, he gradually applied more pressure to either break the neck or bleed it out. He tried to ignore the foreclaws of his opponent that raked and sliced through the skin along his shoulder. To stop this, he tugged and forced the other sharptooth down to the ground.

Unfortunately, that was apparently what the Plated Sharptooth was waiting for. Shifting a bit and lifting a leg, he gave Red Claw a strong kick to make him let go before standing and snapping around, hitting the Big Biter with a powerful blow of the tail. The Fast Biters watched with wide eyes as their leader fell to ground. They were about rush to provide their assistance and mount an attack themselves, but a directed glare from Red Claw was all they needed to back up and stay out of it. But they weren't too sure about this anymore. And their reason proved all too clear:

Every move Red Claw made, every tactic he used, everything he had was being countered by this strange sharptooth. It seems the trespasser has had lots of experience fighting and winning. Red Claw had the same experience, but his weakness wasn't coming from strength or expertise, he realized. He was too slow to effectively attack and counterattack. And after many failed attempts to land a deadly blow, he was tired and bleeding. The Plated Sharptooth was bleeding as well, but not nearly to the extent of Red Claw's injuries, and he seemed to have been waiting for this opportunity. Using the other sharptooth's growing weariness to his advantage, he lunged and headbutted the Big Biter so hard as to make a Domehead jealous, sending resident sharptooth crashing to the ground.

In horror, Screech and Thud shifted their weight from foot to foot, silently urging their boss to get back up and give them a signal to attack. But their leader did nothing, laying motionless as the intruder came closer to finish this. With that, the two brothers charged. As far as these Fast Biters were concerned, they had to lend a helping claw. Red Claw can suck up his pride; this was for his own good. The two smaller sharpteeth leaped and latched onto the side of the rival sharptooth, claws digging and adding to the wounds as they tried to earn enough time for Red Claw to recover. But things did not go as planned for them as the Plated Sharptooth thrashed about and managed to throw Thud off before smashing Screech into a large tree. Thud hit the ground hard, but his head shot up nonetheless at his brother's shriek of pain.

Thud's eyes widened as he spotted his brother soon in the jaws of the other sharptooth, the blue Fast Biter thrashing about and trying desperately to free himself. The intruder wasn't letting go and slammed the smaller carnivore's head right into the tree with immense force. Screech went limp instantly and Thud snarled in pure anger. Forcing himself to stand, he dashed forward and threw himself against the Plated Sharptooth's head, making him let his brother go. But no sooner had Screech's limp body hit the ground than Thud was snatched in the powerful jaws himself. Screaming in pain, he struggled as hard as he could, but had no more success than his brother...no more success than that little hatchling they killed earlier. He was given a hard shake before being thrown to the ground. Snarling in defiance, he tried to stand, only to be knocked back down. The pain was unbearable, made much worst when his enemy bit down on one of his legs as he kicked out, snapping bones like twigs. Roaring in agony, he slashed and bit his attacker's muzzle. That got him free, but not a second passed before he was grabbed and shaken by the jaws again. Things were getting darker to him from that point and as he was thrown back to the ground, he could only see and hear bits of things...

The Plated Sharptooth turning away and approaching Red Claw's still unconscious body...

Blackness...

A horrible crushing sound...

The intruder's triumphant roar...

Silence...

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Something I made a while ago that I never really got myself to submit till now. I've seen many fanfics and stuff of Red Claw vs. Sharptooth and I wanted to do something different with a different sharptooth. Whether the Plated Sharptooth was the same one as the one in the fifth movie is up to your speculation! ^^ Please review to tell me what ya think!

Hmm...two LBT chapter stories at the same time... This should test my multi-tasking skills!


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